Even the cargo community knows Rickenbacker International Airport is in fashion.
In the last year or so, the all-freight airport in Columbus, Ohio, has gained five weekly flights to Hong Kong – three Cargolux flights and two Cathay Pacific freighter flights. Amerijet announced its development of an air cargo hub at Rickenbacker, with B767 freighter service starting July 7.
Much of the airfreight comes from Columbus-based L Brands, a major fashion retailer whose brands include Victoria’s Secret and Bath & Body Works.
But right now, Rickenbacker only imports. Air cargo companies operating at the airport look forward to the day that it starts export service.
“Some ground handling companies are in the process of setting up appropriate export facilities to try ramp up export potential from Rickenbacker,” Pier Curci, Cargolux vice president Americas, says. “At the moment, we’re not participating in any export service from Rickenbacker.”
After the airline’s freighters do a partial off-load of cargo in Columbus, the planes continue to either New York or Chicago.
Six years ago, RCS Logistics opened its first office in Columbus. The forwarder operates charter flights out of Hong Kong and Shanghai, Brian Heaney, president of RCS, says. Looking to replace its charter partner Evergreen International Airlines after it filed for bankruptcy in December 2013, RCS forged an agreement with Cathay Pacific. In March, Cathay’s Rickenbacker flights launched.
RCS is among the companies looking to export cargo out of Columbus and onto Asia.
“As we start to look at what the globe will look like in five, 10, 15 years, costs rising in China, perhaps some light manufacturing coming back to the U.S., I think the Midwest area is some place that companies would look to possibly put some kind of operations,” Heaney says.
David Whitaker also has big hopes for the airport. He serves as vice president business development for Columbus Regional Airport Authority, the operator of Rickenbacker. He says Rickenbacker must take on exports in order to succeed.
The first step entails finding a neutral warehouse service provider that can handle multiple forwarders.
“It’s one of the missing links at Rickenbacker,” Whitaker says.
The airport has an existing multi-tenant facility with 20,000 square feet (1,858 square meters) of warehouse space, but forwarders such as RCS need a service provider who can manage all of that, Whitaker says. Columbus Regional Airport Authority is in talks with service providers about establishing a Rickenbacker operation, and Whitaker feels confident the airport will have a provider by the end of the summer.
That means export service can start soon afterward.
“Our thought process is we will start slowly and see how the market responds, so the next step then is to ensure there’s enough space available for that to grow as large as the market would like it to have happen,” Whitaker says.
Future activity at Rickenbacker will hinge on the development of the export side, Cargolux’s Curci says.
“We’re happy to participate in any future growth in Rickenbacker, but in terms of really what the growth is, it’s all going to depend on where the exporters in the region find value for it,” he says.
Curci declined to say how many tonnes of freight Cargolux moves to Rickenbacker on its three weekly flights.
“I do apologize for being so vague, but basically, there’s been a lot of buzz around Rickenbacker, and what I don’t want to do is lead into unrealistic expectations from the export side, so we’re waiting to see if there’s a tangible product that’s going to be put together,” he says.
RCS, which has a 48,000-square-foot (4,459-square-meter) warehouse at Rickenbacker, expects to export fashion, automotive and pharmaceutical products out of Columbus. Health care companies McKesson and Cardinal Health, the biggest Fortune 500 company in Ohio, have large presences in the state.
Whitaker also says these industries, along with electronics to a lesser degree, will contribute to Columbus’ export.
After locating a service provider, Rickenbacker has initial plans for larger, new warehouse facilities to accommodate growth in export and import activity.
“The art is timing. So when do you need the larger building? How will the market respond to the opportunity to export out of here?” Whitaker asks. “Some of those are unknown, and we want to strike the right balance with not building too soon nor too late. Airports get in trouble sometimes when they overbuild, and they get in trouble when they under-build a little bit. So it’s really an art to find the right timing to construct a building.”
With all of this freight activity going on, it begs the question: Why Rickenbacker?
Answers include its proximity to distribution centers, especially for fashion products – a truck in Rickenbacker can reach 60 percent of the U.S. within two days, Heaney says. The airport’s lack of passenger flights means a lack of congestion. Operating at Rickenbacker also costs less compared with nearby Chicago and JFK.
“As we look outside of the traditional airports, I think we could possibly have a blank canvas at Rickenbacker and look to develop it in the coming future,” Heaney says.